Ken Doherty has revealed that one of the Just Stop Oil protesters who interrupted the World Snooker Championship earlier this week asked him for a selfie ahead of the stunt.
Two people were arrested after the protesters disrupted the evening session of the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield on Monday.
A man wearing a 'Just Stop Oil' T-shirt interrupted the match between Robert Milkins and Joe Perry at the Crucible Theatre by jumping onto one of the tables and tipping out orange powder.
READ MORE: Barry Hearn set to SUE Just Stop Oil activist who covered snooker table in orange dust
A woman was prevented from executing a similar stunt on the other table by the referee Olivier Marteel.
Doherty was on punditry duty at the time and says he was happy to pose for a selfie with the man because obviously he didn't know what was to follow.
The Ranelagh Rascal wrote in his Dublin Gazette column: "He had the cheek to ask me for a selfie sometime earlier up in the VIP Lounge, which in my innocence I was happy to pose for, before he tried to disrupt and harm a sport I deeply care about."
The arrested pair have been bailed until June 15 and an investigation continues, South Yorkshire Police said.
Just Stop Oil confirmed the protesters were Exeter university student Eddie Whittingham and Margaret Reid, a former museum professional from Kendal, Cumbria.
The activist group said it is "demanding that the Government stop all new UK fossil fuel projects and are calling on UK sporting institutions to join in civil resistance against the Government’s genocidal policies".
Whittingham was quoted in Just Stop Oil’s press release, saying: "I don’t want to be disrupting something that people enjoy, but we’re facing an extremely grave situation.
"Europe is experiencing its worst drought in 500 years. We’re seeing mass crop failure right now. We’re facing mass starvation, billions of refugees and civilisational collapse if this continues.
"We can’t continue to sit back and act as if everything’s OK."
Reid said: "I did not take this action lightly, but I cannot remain a passive spectator while our Government knowingly pushes us down a path to destruction.
"They are giving handouts of £236 million per week of our money to the most profitable industry on earth during a cost-of-living crisis. I can no longer justify watching from the sidelines.
"I am angry and heartbroken that I have found myself in a position where taking this sort of disruptive action is the only way to get heard."
The protesters were held backstage by tournament security officials until police arrived.
Play was suspended for the evening on the affected table, which was due to be re-covered overnight, while the match between Mark Allen and Fan Zhengyi resumed after a delay of about 45 minutes.
It was the second time in three days a major domestic sporting event was disrupted, with 118 people arrested at Aintree on Saturday as they tried to scale a perimeter fence at the Grand National.
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